Drug shortage threatens pregnant women

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2001, 23:43 GMT]
Hundreds of pregnant women in the northern parts of the Batticaloa district are threatened by the unavailability of a drug (Ecometrine) that controls bleeding during childbirth at the Valaichenai hospital. Medical officers told Mr.M. Abdul Cader, deputy minister for Health who visited the hospital Tuesday that many other essential drugs are in short supply and that the maternity ward building is dilapidated and is functioning without basic facilities.
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'Jaya Gold' resumes humanitarian mission

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2001, 23:01 GMT]
The vessel 'Jaya Gold' chartered by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has recommenced its weekly humanitarian voyages, transporting patients from Jaffna peninsula for specialized medical treatment in Colombo hospitals, sources said.
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"Peace efforts give us hope" - Bishop Raayappu Joseph

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 January 2001, 08:31 GMT]
"Even though the path towards peace is fraught with obstacles, it is everyone's duty to take careful steps towards achieving peace. Statesmanship, courage, patience and unrelenting focus to reach an amicable solution amidst resistance from extremists, are qualities people are expecting to see in both Leaders," said Mannar Bishop Raayappu Joseph in his millenium message to the nation.
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Shots fired to mark New Year celebrations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 December 2000, 19:22 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troops fired several volleys of shells towards LTTE held western hinterland of Batticaloa and opened up firing from its camps and sentry posts in Batticaloa town to celebrate the dawn of the new year said sources in Batticaloa.
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Mirusuvil massacre accused to stand in identification parade

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 December 2000, 09:12 GMT]
The six Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers accused of murdering eight Tamil civilians and burying their bodies in Mirusuvil North, Jaffna were ordered to be kept in remand prison until 10th of January and to appear in an identification parade on the 3rd of January by the Chavakachcheri District Court Judge A. Premshankar Friday evening, said sources in Jaffna.
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SLA offensive in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2000, 13:52 GMT]
Sri Lankan Government troops launched a fresh offensive Saturday morning and have taken control of Navatkuly bridge, about 3 km. east of Jaffna town, army sources said. TamilNet sources in Jaffna said there were no signs of heavy fighting in the area, except sounds of shelling.
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Tamil parties appeal for ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2000, 04:20 GMT]
"Sri Lankan government should respond favourably to the call by the Liberation Tigers for a ceasefire and, USA, Britain, India, members of the European Union and other countries interested in solving the conflict in Sri Lanka should exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to bring an end to the war," said a joint statement issued by a coalition of ten Tamil political parties after they met in Colombo yesterday. .
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Jaffna University students, staff protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 December 2000, 22:29 GMT]
Hundreds of students, academic and non-academic staff of the Jaffna University demonstrated inside the campus premises on Friday voicing support to the political demands of the Tamil people, and demanding the Sri Lankan Government to declare cease-fire and to begin negotiations with the Liberation Tigers, sources in the northern town said.
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More bodies feared buried in Mirusuvil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2000, 21:35 GMT]
In addition to the recently discovered bodies of eight Tamil civilians found buried in Mirusuvil North in Jaffna, residents and local authorities fear more civilian bodies may be hidden buried in areas surrounding Mirusuvil, according to deposition given by Jesutha, the young wife of one of the murdered civilians Theivakulasingam.
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Bodies of missing civilians found

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2000, 16:52 GMT]
The bodies of eight Tamil civilians, including a five year old child, who were reported 'missing' after being arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers on 19 December were unearthed from a grave in Mirusuvil area in the Thenmaradchi Monday, said police and hospital sources in Jaffna.
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TULF protests Sri Lanka's ceasefire rejection

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2000, 15:31 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Monday criticised the Sri Lankan government's refusal to reciprocate the LTTE's pledge to unilaterally observe a month-long ceasefire over the festive season. "The vast majority of people would have welcomed the prevalence of peace during the festive season of Christmas, New Year and Thai Pongal", the TULF said. Commenting on the government's insistence that any negotiations take place as fighting continues, the party said "The TULF considers it impractical and also irrational to expect a guerilla force to engage in serious negotiations, while at the same time fighting a fierce war."
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LTTE to unilaterally observe "goodwill" ceasefire

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2000, 13:35 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Monday expressed "great dismay" the Sri Lankan government had rejected its offer of a month-long ceasefire over the festive season, but said they would continue to unilaterally observe a truce and urged the government to reconsider its position. "The LTTE will not embark on offensive armed operations during the festive season ending on the 24th January 2001 but it reserves the right to armed defence. We will only engage in defensive war if and when Sri Lanka armed forces launch offensive military operations against our positions," the Tigers said in a statement from their London offices.
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Petition against Antiterrorism Law ruling filed in US Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2000, 10:49 GMT]
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a New York based non-profit organization, filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court asking the Court to exercise its discretion and review the decision of the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, which ruled that Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) does not violate the First and the Fifth Amendments of the US constitution, legal sources said.
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Sri Lanka rejects LTTE's "goodwill" ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2000, 20:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Saturday rejected the Liberation Tigers offer Thursday of a month-long "goodwill" cease-fire, asserting that military operations by the armed forces will continue. A statement issued by the Presidential Secretariat also said that "further gestures of goodwill are unnecessary [before negotiations]," rejecting the LTTE's call to de- escalate the conflict for negotiations to take place in conditions of normalcy.
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Britain welcomes LTTE ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2000, 10:23 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain Friday welcomed the Liberation Tigers announcement Thursday of a month-long unilateral ceasefire as “a first step” in de-escalating the conflict and urged the Sri Lankan government to follow suit.
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Aid ‘disconnect’ in Paris

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2000, 03:27 GMT]
(News Feature) The ambiguity surrounding the outcome of the Sri Lanka Development Forum in Paris this week has been rapidly seized upon by Sri Lanka’s main opposition and (belatedly in response) by the government’s supporters, with confident assertions of failure or success respectively. However, with the meeting concluding sans the customary pledges of monetary assistance and the critical tone of the final statement from the Forum - with warnings of the need for “an utmost sense of urgency” from the government and “a sense of frustration amongst donors” - it is clear that things have not gone according to plan for President Chandrika Kumaratunge.
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Tigers declare "goodwill" month-long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2000, 11:47 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers declared Thursday a month-long unilateral ceasefire "as a goodwill measure to facilitate the peace process." A press release from the organisation's London offices quoted a statement released by its headquarters in the Vanni said it would cease hostile military actions against the Sri Lankan armed forces from midnight 24 December.
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Amnesty fears for safety of Tamil villagers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2000, 02:32 GMT]
Amnesty International in a statement published yesterday said that it fears for safety of villagers of Gopalapuram in Trincomalee district from Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel. The statement was issued following the torture and murder, allegedly by the navy, of two young Tamil men, Mahalingam Thamiran and Shanmugarajan Sornahasan, who were previously threatened after the villagers protested against the killing of several villagers by the navy.
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Sinhala nationalists protest against talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 December 2000, 14:34 GMT]
The militant Sinhala Buddhist nationalist group, the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), urged the Sri Lanka army to continue the war until the Liberation Tigers are defeated when they met the SLA commander Lt.Gen. Lionel Balagalle Wednesday and gave him a memorandum against peace talks to end the ethnic conflict in the island. The NMAT held a protest in downtown Colombo against peace talks Wednesday afternoon. Protesters burnt an effigy of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan and poked fun at two persons dressed up as Norwegian peace emissary Eric Soleheim and British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Peter Hain.
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EU urges easing of embargo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 December 2000, 08:46 GMT]
The European Union, whilst discussing financial assistance for the Sri Lankan government Monday, urged negotiations to end the protracted conflict in Sri Lanka and called for a lasting solution which would take "substantial account of the aspirations" of the Tamils within Sri Lanka's territorial integrity and unity. A declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on Sri Lanka at the World Bank Development Forum, also urged the Sri Lankan government to ease the hardships of the displaced people in the north-east and welcomed the Norwegian peace initiative, whilst expressing concern at defence expenditure. The EU also said "the ethnic conflict and shortcomings in government are hampering" Sri Lanka's development.
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